Everything under control

Their names are Glam Wedding Pink, Curcuma Sun, Royal Pearl Black or Prince of Bengal – to name just a few of the extraordinary rice varieties that Lotao has in its range alongside other specialties. The food products are imported, in some cases refined, packaged, assembled, picked and shipped. To ensure that everything runs smoothly, the company has been working with the winweb-food ERP system for a good six months.

At Lotao administration in Berlin, Managing Director Stefan Fak pulls the strings. This is where the processes are managed and, depending on capacity, distributed to the company's own operation in Ribnitz-Damgarten or external service providers. “Our specialties are subject to strong price fluctuations, so before placing an order we obtain the current prices from different exporters”, explains Fak. Only then is the rice ordered via the ERP system in the respective national currency depending on delivery terms, availability and price and with the Suppliersbilled. When the food arrives in Germany, it is booked in goods receipt in winweb-food by batch and best-before date. Specifications and certificates are already stored in the system for this purpose.

At the same time go Orders via the company’s own online shop, from wholesale and retail, but also by telephone, fax, EDI order or email and are recorded by the employees. This means that the Production planned directly in the ERP system, raw materials, packaging materials and finished products ordered and/or relocated at the various service providers and the picking orders distributed. “We serve around 3,000 customers from wholesale and retail as well as private purchasers from the online shop and for this we have to bring together 60 finished products and around 500 raw materials and packaging materials,” says Fak.

If the production orders for the individual service providers have been created, they are automatically transmitted to the respective companies. The respective processor reports article batches and quantities to Lotao in order to ensure seamless traceability for organic certification. This means that the Production order complete, is completed and only then are the goods available in the system. Service providers with system access use a quick storage mask in winweb-food, in which only the orders relevant to them can be selected and posted. Based on stored recipes, production orders are created, which are posted in goods preparation and made available for further processing.

The finished specialties are finally recorded in the ERP system with Batch numbers and best before date managed and packed into customer-specific mixed cartons and displays, before the orders are virtually in the system and physically at theStorage be passed on. After order picking, the delivery notes together with the corresponding Invoicesprinted or sent to customers as a file via electronic data transmission. For wholesale and retail, the system automatically creates NVE labels as shipping labels.

In winweb-food are for the Quality assurancedetailed inspections are defined, which are independently documented and carried out within the process chain itself and ensure the high quality standards. “QA is now one of the biggest requirements in the food sector. Every processing step is checked, including the complete documentation of the origin of the raw goods, and can be verified at any time”, says Winweb Managing Director Willi von Berg.
As an owner-managed, medium-sized company, the IT specialist Winweb has been developing and distributing ERP software for the food industry since 1997. User-oriented innovations and short response times to individual requirements are the focus. More than 250 customers trust in the high level of solution expertise. Lotao does too.

The Austrian Stefan Fak founded Lotao in Berlin in 2010. The company brings Asian rice varieties exclusively to the German-speaking market and wants to convey its own attitude to life through the stories associated with them. The high-quality products are positioned in the delicatessen segment and are aimed at discerning customers who care about the quality and origin of food. The range has now been expanded to include coconut and jackfruit products, all of which are available via the company's own online shop, in delicatessen stores, and in some wholesale chains.

www.lotao.com
www.winweb.de